Business Litigation Cases
In Maryland Casualty Co. et al. v. NStar Electric Company, a case handled by Andrea Peraner-Sweet and Barbara L. Drury for our client NSTAR, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a public utility’s liability for damages may be limited by a properly filed and approved tariff. In this case, the plaintiff insurers were seeking to recover business interruption losses and other consequential damages paid to their insureds. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed an earlier grant of summary judgment in favor of NSTAR (n/k/a Eversource Energy) holding that a tariff approved by the DPU that contained a limitation of liability clause precluding non-residential customers from recovering in “contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise for special, indirect or consequential damages” shielded NSTAR from liability for such damages including claims for gross negligence and willful and wanton misconduct.
Jonathan W. Fitch and Ryan M. Cunningham reached a multi-million dollar settlement for our clients who were minority investors in a hedge fund company. The case settled after a jury trial in the business litigation session had begun.
A Judge in the Business Litigation Session awarded our clients, investors in a hedge fund company, sanctions and attorneys fees after finding that the defendant hedge fund and its owner willfully destroyed thousands of pages of documents on the eve of a discovery deadline. Jonathan W. Fitch and Ryan Cunningham represented the clients in this case. Read the decision.
Fitch Law Partners LLP attorneys Kurt Kusiak won an arbitration award in favor of our client, the owner of a large automobile dealership, in an acrimonious “corporate divorce” dispute involving three separate partnerships that owned two parcels of real estate and faced complex finance and development issues. After a former partner reneged on a settlement agreement we negotiated, Kurt successfully defended the owner in court against the former partner’s allegations of wrongdoing, and then prevailed in a subsequent arbitration over the meaning, effect and enforceability of the settlement agreement. The arbitrator, a former Justice of the Massachusetts Court of Appeals, agreed with our interpretation of the settlement agreement, credited the evidence showing that our client-owner had fully complied with the agreement, and ordered the owner’s former partner to do the same.
Jonathan Fitch won summary judgment on behalf of a state university client that had been sued for alleged defamation, interference with contractual relations and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Superior Court dismissed the action ruling that the defendant university was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Jonathan W. Fitch and Robert Mendillo obtained judgment of $2,943,320 for their client, Independence Seaport Museum of Philadelphia, against the museums former president, who had robbed the museum of assets through a complex series of fraudulent transactions. The firm played a significant role in uncovering evidence of thievery that ultimately resulted in the conviction of the defendant on federal criminal charges.
Kurt Kusiak and Alex Klibaner successfully brought a motion to dismiss for PAREXEL International Corp. in a large class action case brought in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Ironworkers Local Union No. 68 et al. v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP et al.. Plaintiff union health and benefit funds, falsely claimed that AstraZeneca and PAREXEL violated the federal Rackeeteer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) statute and state consumer protection laws and committed fraud by allegedly misrepresented the safety and efficacy of the antipsychotic drug Seroquel and marketing the drug for off-label uses. The claims were dismissed because the Plaintiffs’ could not show any injuries proximately caused by Defendants’ alleged actions. See: http://www.fdalawblog.net/
Andrea Peraner-Sweet and Alex Klibaner obtained summary judgment dismissing all claims against our client who had been wrongly sued for defamation, invasion of privacy, and violation of the state’s healthcare providers’ whistleblower law.
Jonathan Fitch obtained jury verdict awarding our client substantial damages in a legal malpractice case.
Andrea Peraner-Sweet prevailed at the Supreme Judicial Court when the Court affirmed summary judgment that had been granted in favor of our client, an electric utility, and ruled that the utility did not owe a duty of care to the Plaintiff as it could not reasonably be anticipated that an intoxicated driver would veer off the roadway and strike the utility’s pole.
Alex Klibaner and Robert Mendillo won a jury trial for our client, whose insurance had been insufficient to cover a large loss sustained when his commercial building was destroyed by fire. The jury returned a verdict against our client’s insurance broker for negligence and negligent misrepresentation.
Andrea Peraner-Sweet obtained dismissal of a breach of warranty claim made against Boston Edison on the grounds that the provision of electricity is not a product.
Supreme Court of the United States capped our successful representation of a doctor accused of negligence in a wrongful death case by letting stand the decision in our client’s favor by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Jim Re led the Fitch Law Partners LLP team that presented the case in briefs and oral argument to the Court of Appeals, and in a lengthy brief to the Supreme Court.